Hi everybody. It’s about time I did a post to justify my existence, so here I am. I was having a look at Twitter and found some nice tweets, and thought I could put them in a post. Then, of course, I had to think of something to write about.

A fellow NZ atheist took care of that. She posted the photo below in a NZ atheist Facebook group I’m a member of. It’s horrific. Some may think I’m exaggerating, but to me this is little different to openly walking the street in Klan robes.

Duluth, Minnesota Trump Rally 20 June, 2018

Although just put up today, this pic is actually a couple of months old. The Trump rally in question was in Duluth, Minnesota, on 21 June 2018. The rally was so popular they had to change the venue to accommodate the crowd. Clearly, the anti-media message from President Trump is not one his fans object to.

Consistent Message

From the start of his presidential campaign until today, Trump has been a flip-flopper. Personally, I think the ability to change your mind in the face of better evidence is a sign of strength. However, that’s not why Trump does it. Basically, he parrots the opinion of the last person he spoke to. Unfortunately, many of the people around him the most have some pretty ghastly opinions. There are few areas in which he himself appears to have the knowledge or, at least judgement, to make a good decision.

However, there are a couple of areas in which he’s consistent, and all are ones that appeal to the worst instincts of his core supporters. They’re also all areas that are the least likely to do what a leader should – unite their country. As with the anti-media message, it’s through hate that Trump binds his cult to him. One message is anti-immigrants of colour. There are thousands of murders in the US every year, most committed by legal citizens. But, the only ones Trump seems to notice are those committed by someone in the country illegally. In the latest case though, the family of the victim is fighting back against him. It’s good to know there are some who even in their worst days are fighting Trump’s divisive message.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides, on many sides.

The truth is Trump appears so racist as to support the Theory of Eugenics. Watch this, right to the end, and take note of his last words. Then remember his words (above) relating to those chanting “Jews will not replace us,” and “Blood and soil,” (a Nazi Germany chant) in Charlottesville.

Trump’s Anti-Media Bias

But back to the anti-media message this post is about! Before he was president Trump was consistently banning various journalists and media from his press conferences. The media outlets he is trying to turn people against are actually some of the most reliable in their messaging: the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN, amongst others.

He has a soft spot for Fox News, which is more supportive of him than most outlets. On Fox News you will hear a ridiculous talking point, which is parroted by Trump supporters on other networks. That is that most stories in/on other media outlets portray President Trump in a negative light. However, they don’t say what those stories are. The truth is, most of the actions of this president cannot be put in a positive light. If he continues to be a bad president, most stories about him will be bad. It’s simply not possible to put a positive light on lying about paying off a steady stream of mistresses, for example.

Trump’s Own Fake News

As those of us not under Trump’s spell know, most of the Fake News comes from Trump himself. He consistently and constantly lies to his people, and it’s impossible to believe he doesn’t know he’s doing it considering just how egregious some of the lies are.

Just today:

Over 90% approval rating for your all time favorite (I hope) President within the Republican Party and 52% overall. This despite all of the made up stories by the Fake News Media trying endlessly to make me look as bad and evil as possible. Look at the real villains please!

The truth is it was a 52% DISapproval rating overall – his overall Approval rating was actually 38%! But look how many of his people have retweeted this unquestioningly. And, of course, they have a right to assume that it’s the truth and be excited by the news.

On the other hand, how many presidents tweet their approval ratings?

Surveys of the media show that Fox News consistently covers stories that show the president in a bad light less than other outlets. On the other hand, MSNBC (a left-leaning but honest network) covers those stories more. Centrist media, like CNN, cover them somewhere in between. For example, here’s the graphic in relation to the Mueller/Russia Investigation:

You can’t really blame Trump supporters for having an opinion that the Mueller Investigation is no big deal when the news source they watch doesn’t cover it and their president calls it a Witch Hunt.

Fake News vs the Mueller Investigation

Because of his consistent messaging against certain media, and because of the cult-like status he has amongst many of his followers, Trump has done a scarily successful job of convincing them that several top media outlets and journalists are both Fake News and the Enemy of the People. A 2017 Gallup/Knight Foundation survey of 19,000 people showed that 39% of conservatives think that negative political stories against conservatives are ALWAYS fake news. Even more think that at least some are fake news. Only 14% of Liberals felt the same, though that’s still too high of course.

(Source: Vox. Click graphic to go to source.)

That means that if the Mueller Investigation reports indictable criminal activity by Trump, as is looking increasingly likely, and Trump announces that’s fake news, a third of the country will believe him.

The good news is that in the last few days there has been an upsurge in the approval rating of the Mueller himself. A new Fox News poll shows it’s up significantly to 59%, with 40% believing Trump committed “criminal or impeachable” offences. That’s consistent with CNN, Washington Post, and other polls, all of which are showing a gradual increase in approval for the Mueller Investigation.

It seems that as more and more people appear to be testifying against the president in a situation where they are likely to be telling the truth, even some of the Trump cult are facing reality.

Of course, some of Trump’s supporters are so deep in the cult they’re beyond help.

John McCain Tweets

Before he died, Senator John McCain asked that former presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama speak at his funeral. He didn’t fully agree with either of them politically, but he felt they exemplified the public service ethic he himself tried to exemplify. He didn’t want President Trump to attend.

Space Tweets

An amazing woman.

Happy 100th Birthday to Ms. Katherine Johnson, NASA human computer Who calculated trajectories for America’s first mission in space and the path that put Neil Armstrong on the moon. pic.twitter.com/3CUq1TC7Qn

33 Responses to “Trump’s Anti-Media Attitude (plus Tweets)”

Good morning Heather!! Glad you’re back, and I hope the chair is improving your life as you acclimate to it.

Happy birthday to mathematician Katherine Johnson. Wow, on so many levels.

Have you ever noticed that the Trumpers never look at his, or their, BEHAVIOR, as the impetus for all that criticism? It’s always FAKE NEWS, or the deep state, or liberal bias in journalism, or some other excuse.

I just finished reading, on Axios this morning, a list of the potential investigations into the Trump regime which are expected by Republicans if the Democrats take the House in November. It is lengthy. And, it’s based on document requests that have already been made by various Democratic representatives. No speculation is involved.

And yet, the Republicans have not moved themselves to any inquiry on ANY of these topics.

This is how the Personal Responsibility People do personal responsibility.

That list shows just how lacking in morality the GOP is. Most of those things should be investigated WHOEVER is president, but it’s not happening because they want to retain power and don’t want to bring any (more) attention to all the corruption.

I could not find that list on Axios (Yes, I tried), do you have a link? I’m very interested to read it. There are a few I can think of myself, of course, but a list by some who are really ‘into it’ appears highly interesting.

Good to see you are back at it. There is always more to uncover on the investigation at hand. By the way, Robert Mueller was also a Marine officer and served in Vietnam. So hockey is just a kids game. He would make wood pulp out of Trump in more ways than one.

To get an even better understanding of Trump and Russia the new book, House of Trump, House of Putin is out there. Just getting started on this one but it is obvious the Russians began capturing him way back in the late 80s. Much of what he is has actually been out there in plain sight for a long time. His simplistic and juvenile approach to foreign policy and running the country was already fully developed. The only surprising result was that this simpleton would one day be president. With enough stupid people, anything is possible.

I saw Anderson Cooper interview the author ?a couple of weeks ago. I think the hypothesis that book puts forward is a really good one, and makes a lot more sense that a lot of the ones that are floating around. I would put money on a lot of the Kompromat coming from back in the 80s/90s, and especially video of him with women.

Yes, I don’t think people realize how involved Trump has been with the Russians for many years. They also do not know what a totally corrupt system that Russia is. The Russian mop is a very large branch of the government and Trump is very connected to many of these people, particularly since the 90s.

Assuming we survive this and then immediately begin not learning from the past, it will be interesting to see if the U.S. decides that the people who run for president should be investigated before they can enter politics at that level. It is obvious this was not done here and we may be paying a very large price.

The democrats seem especially lost when it comes to figuring this Trump out. I think they are mostly in denial and do not want to except what this guy really is.

I think that Mr Trump’s deep financial involvements are slightly later, when US banks refused to give him money anymore (the moment they realised these loans were actually gifts) . And the idea by his Russian Mafia bosses to run him for president even later still. I mean the idea of him running for president is only half a decade or so old, I’d guess. Jr confirmed that the Trump empire was basically based on Russian money. Why do these deplorable GOP-pers not listen to Jr?

The political thing is far more recent, but the Russians will try to get their hooks into anyone they think could be useful, and that’s why I agree that this could go back 30 years. it’s basically luck on the part of the Russians that this guy they targeted back then because of business turned out to be a presidential candidate. Trump could have renewed old ties to get the money he needed later on. The Russians filmed/taped everyone in certain hotels just in case. There were also issues apparently with Ivana because of coming from a communist country, and what she had to do when she went back to visit family.

I’m not so sure it was basically luck. I suspect his Russian Mafia creditors somehow ‘suggested’ he should run for president. After all he was a moderately well-known TV personality in the US. I suspect he was ‘groomed’ too (Mr Putin’s specialty in the KGB): his populist jingoistic rhetoric is barely distinguishable from Mr Putin’s. It worked for Mr Putin in Russia, why would it not work for Mr Trump in the US? And with a little help from counting fraud and voter disenfranchisement (not really Russian, I think) a massive 24/7 smearing of his opponent and ‘micro-targeting’ (made possible by their hacking of voter lists) they succeeded.

Yeah. All this talk of security clearances, and there’s no way the president could get a security clearance. Even if he sees out his presidency I think it’s important that there is some sort of legal thing surrounding him so he can’t have access once he leaves office. He just can’t be trusted.

And remember that the Aussies wouldn’t give him a licence to open a casino there in the 90s because of his ties to the Russian mob. Iirc, he may not even have been able to get a visa to enter the country. And it was an Australian diplomat in conversation with George Papadopalous that started all this latest investigation.

One of the more obvious ventures after the Atlantic City bankruptcies using the Trump name and no money required. He struck a deal with a Florida developer attaching his name to three high-rises in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida. Russians loved the Trump brand and maybe one-third of the five hundred apartments went to Russian speakers. The area became known as Little Moscow. Hundreds of the condos were bought by shell companies, so you don’t know the true owner. Money laundering on a large scale.

Yeah, that’s a good example. Wealthy Russians are desperate to get their money out of Russia because the economy is collapsing, and it’s really hard to do for a lot of them because they’re named in nations’ legislation like the US Magnitsky Act, and several UN thingymajigs too.

Perhaps the opposition should attack Fox News more often. We tend to laugh about Fox’s Trump coverage but there are very few outright attacks on it. It can be attacked as a huge source of lies and conspiracy theories without even referring to Trump directly. Show the Trump supporters that Fox News is feeding them lies and perhaps we break the chain! Or at least weaken it.

I think the big problem with Fox is the difference between news and opinion. Some of their journalism is mostly okay, though obviously with a Republican spin. The problem is that people like Sean Hannity, Judge Janine Pirro etc present themselves as journalists when they’re not. Fox says that it’s not their fault, but opinion shows have the “Breaking News” graphic all the time, and non-journalists announcing it and giving their opinion as if it’s news.

That survey I referred to also showed that Conservatives tend to get their news from limited sources, while Liberals get theirs from a wider range of sources. That makes a big difference too. There are apparently a lot of people who get their news and opinion from nowhere but Fox. It’s something we say, but this survey actually proves it.

I’m always happy to see a Homily in my in-box. I know I will be taught something new about nature and politics and be entertained by awe and cuteness. You didn’t mention how you’re getting along, so I guess you’re acclimating to the new chair. Hopefully this is a case of “no news is good news”.

The only point of the Trump analysis I disagree with is: You can’t really blame Trump supporters for having an opinion that the Mueller Investigation is no big deal when the news source they watch doesn’t cover it and their president calls it a Witch Hunt.

Actually, I do blame them. They believe what they want to believe through intellectual dishonesty and confirmation bias; and they want to believe Trump is the second coming of Christ and/or the best thing that has ever happened to (white) America. There is plenty of fact checking that can lead someone to the truth, as long as they honestly want to know the truth. Unfortunately, millions of Americans really don’t care about the truth, and for that, I can only blame them for the craven choice they’ve made and continue to make.

Loved the anachronistic photo of ‘mid-eval Cleese’ reading the newspaper.

And here’s a nice factoid:In 2015, at age 97, Katherine Johnson added another extraordinary achievement to her long list: President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor. By this time in Obama’s Presidency, he had already granted 16 medals. The first 16 were announced on 7/31/2009. And a well rounded list it was:

I wonder who Trump will choose…esp. since he can’t choose Putin. I think his utter lack of curiosity about externalities and his outlook that anyone who doesn’t kiss his ass is a loser precludes him from picking anyone. No one is worthy! Maybe he’ll give it to himself and Ivanka.

I hate the chair. The only good things I can say is that it’s better than I had before, and it’s nice looking. I think I’ve acclimatized as best as I ever will. (I’m planning to win enough in the lottery so I can get the one I want myself.)

Your criticism is fair enough, and I suppose agree with you. People should make an effort to get their news from a wider range and make sure it’s accurate. The rest of us do it, so why can’t they? It would certainly be time better spent than going to church, or judging their neighbours.

If Trump thinks Judge Arpaio and Dinesh de Souza are worthy of a pardon, perhaps they’re on the list. Or Rudy, Michael Flynn. And he still thinks Manafort is a good man. I think the reason Manafort hasn’t rolled is because if he does the Russians will have him killed. He’s more scared of them than Mueller.

I’m so sorry the chair did not live up to expectations. How much would the one you want cost?

Note about Mr Manafort, he did not just lobby for Mr Yanukovych in the Ukraine, but also for Mr Marcos in the Philippines, Mr Mobutu in Zaire and Mr Savimbi in Angola. Not a pretty resume it appears, they were all kinda despicable dictators (with the possible exception of Mr Savimbi). Some jail time is somehow deserved, meseems. Indeed, I’m sure he’s more afraid of the Russian mafia than of Mr Mueller or a US jail. Who wouldn’t?

I note that whenever Trump talks about who Manafort worked for, he only ever mentions Reagan and Dole. I don’t really remember anything about Bob Dole, but for some reason I have a bad feeling about him. I really didn’t like Reagan at all. I thought he was dreadful and have never understood why he is lionized by so many. I was still in high school when he became president and I remember my best friend and I being horrified at the idea of him in the White House. We both considered him a warmonger, we hated his attitude to women, we thought he was excessively religious (and I was still a devout believer myself then), and we thought his mind was going (turns out we were right about that one). We wrote a letter to someone in the US about our worries, but I can’t remember who. It ended with a prediction that in a confused moment he would start a nuclear war! Of course, both are basically normal GOP candidates, and working for them doesn’t make you a disgrace of a human being like working for those people you mention does.

According to the book I am reading Manafort and Gates all worked for Yanukovych for more than a decade – in return for millions of dollars. He was likely deeply in hock to Deripaska and offered him private briefing — a back channel to Putin while Manafort was in the campaign.

Glad you’re back! So many good tweets, and that sheep that thinks it’s a dog is hilarious. That is one of the best selfies, not just today, but it ranks right up there in my top 15. John Cleese, great, and the tornadic super cell, too.

In case you don’t know (though you surely do) the posed and composed image with Trump to the side standing next to big block letters announcing whatever bullshit he’s announcing is generated from a template that he uses on Instagram. I didn’t know until recently that he had an Instagram account. Relentless graphic sameness and mediocrity, but his Instagram account ist worth checking out, I think.

Thanks “Jenny”. I knew Trump had an Instagram account, but I didn’t know that was a template he uses regularly. Typical to make one that makes him look like that, though I suppose there’s a good chance I’d find something to criticize whatever he did!

Something that annoys me about Trump’s social media is that when they announce how many followers he has, they add together the numbers on all the platforms to say that’s how many he’s reaching. I’ll bet anything you like that a majority of followers that are real people follow him on more than one platform. And we all have followers that aren’t real people. A lot of the sites I get tweets from aren’t real people. They have names like “Emergency Kittens” which, of course, it very important when you need a kitten fix!

I think there’s opinion and then there’s outright fabrication and conspiracy theory mongering. On CNN, they are generally seeking to understand what’s going on. On Fox News, is it all about supporting their guy and entertaining the ignorant and easily misled.